Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have many benefits such as long useful life, compact size, high shock resistance, low heat generation and low power consumption. Thus, LEDs have been widely adopted in applications including household appliances as well as indicators and light sources of various types of equipment. In recent years, progress has been made in the development of multi-color and high-brightness LEDs, enabling applications of LEDs in large outdoor display panels, traffic signals and related fields. In the future, it is possible for LEDs to become the mainstream lighting sources with both energy saving and environment-friendly features. To improve reliability of LEDs, LEDs are typically packaged during the manufacturing process into a durable lighting device.
In the manufacturing process of conventional lighting devices, one or more LEDs are fixed onto a carrier structure that includes a housing and lead frame. Then, other steps such as wire bonding and encapsulation are carried out. Lastly, the housing and the one or more LEDs I are separated from the lead frame to form the lighting device. During the process of separating the housing and the one or more LEDs from the lead frame may fall off due to deformation of the lead frame given the forces exerted on the lead frame the housing and the one or more LEDs disposed on the lead frame. Specifically, severe friction between the lead frame and housing may occur during the separating process, and often times the lead frame may scratch edges of the housing to cause damage. Consequently, debris of the housing may fall on the lighting device, negatively affecting optical inspection of the lighting device to result in the manufacturing process being not smooth.